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Research
Facts and Figures Either on its own or in conjunction with other factors, alcohol is estimated to be responsible for at least 33,000 deaths in the UK each year.(1) In Great Britain, just under a third of men (31%) and one in five women (20%) drink more than the advised weekly limits of 21 and 14 units a week respectively. Some 8% of men and 2% of women drink more than the levels regarded as harmful, namely 50 and 35 units a week respectively. (2) More than one in 25 adults are dependent on alcohol, and the UK has one of the highest rates of binge drinking in Europe (3)(4) An estimated 17 million working days are lost each year due to people missing work due to the effects of alcohol. (5) Around 6% of road casualties and 17% of all deaths on the road occur when someone has been drinking over the legal limit. (6) In young adults, binge drinking is also associated with a range of risky behaviours, including a higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted illness.(7) The harmful effects of drinking are almost entirely related to the alcohol content of what you drink, not the type of drink. In other words, beers are no safer than spirits. What matters is how much you drink. The alcohol content of drinks is measured in ‘units’. Each unit is equivalent to around 10mls or 8g of pure alcohol (ethanol). The number of units in any drink is related to the strength of the alcohol content (the concentration) and to the volume of the drink. For example, a single (35ml) shot of spirits contains roughly the same amount of alcohol as a small (125ml) glass of wine. This is about the same amount of alcohol (1.4 units) as is contained in a half pint of normal strength beer. What is binge drinking? The NHS definition of binge drinking is drinking heavily in a short space of time to get drunk or feel the effects of alcohol. The amount of alcohol someone needs to drink in a session for it to be classed as ‘bingeing’ is less clearly defined but the marker used by the NHS and National Office of Statistics is drinking more than double the daily recommended units of alcohol in one session. The Government guidelines state that men should not regularly drink more than three to four units a day, and women should not regularly exceed more than two to three units daily. Binge drinking for men, therefore, is drinking more than eight units of alcohol – or about three pints of strong beer. For women, it’s drinking more than six units of alcohol, equivalent to two large glasses of wine. What’s the difference between drinking normally and binge drinking? Two large glasses of wine may not seem like very much. But drinking six units of alcohol in a short space of time – an hour, say – will raise your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and could make you drunk very quickly. Drinking the same amount over several hours, and accompanied by food for example, will not have the same effect on your BAC. http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/facts/factsheets/alcohol-and-your-health Licensing Laws and Binge Drinking In relation to its reform of the licensing law in England and Wales, the Government claims that fixed, `artificially early' pub closing times are a principal cause of binge drinking as people try to `beat the clock'. The Government argues that abolishing fixed closing times will thus reduce binge drinking and drunkenness by slowing the pace of consumption http://www.ias.org.uk/resources/factsheets/binge_drinking.pdf